Hellin Helena Tynell ( Turpeinen; 10 December 1918 — 18 January 2016) was a notable

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

glass designer who has been described as a pioneer of Finnish

glass art Glass art refers to individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. It ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including gl ...

Education

After completing secondary education in 1938, Helena Tynell went on to study model design at the Central School of Industrial Design (''Taideteollisuuskeskuskoulu''), now part of the

Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture; ; ), was formed of two separate schools: the faculty of architecture (previously part of the Helsinki University of Technology) and the University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH, known in ...

, graduating in 1943.

Career

Tynell started her career in 1943 designing for

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, a leading Finnish housewares and ceramics manufacturer. At the same time, she also worked for , a design bureau part-owned by her future husband and fellow designer,

Paavo Tynell Paavo Viljo Tynell (25 January 1890 – 13 September 1973) was a Finland, Finnish designer who is best known for his lighting fixtures and lamps. Among other things, Tynell designed the lighting for the office of the Secretary-General of the Unite ...

. In 1946, having decided to focus exclusively on glass, Tynell left Arabia to join a major Finnish glass manufacturer of the time, Riihimäki Glass, where she stayed for most of her career, and created many of her most notable designs. Finally, in 1976, she moved to Germany, to design for Glashütte Limburg, among others, until her retirement in the early 1990s.

Legacy

Tynell is best known for practical designs, purposefully created for large-scale manufacturing and everyday use. However, she herself was more interested in glass sculpture, experimenting with abstract forms, and other

artistic Art is a diverse range of culture, cultural activity centered around works of art, ''works'' utilizing Creativity, creative or imagination, imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an express ...

pursuits, using both

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

and

blowing Blowing may refer to: *Air *Breath *Blowing by a whale, from blowhole (anatomy) Industrial processes *Blowing (glassmaking) *Blowing (textile finishing) *Dry blowing, method to extract gold particles from dry soil without the use of water *Melt blo ...

as well as other techniques. One of her best-known designs is a vase called ''Aurinkopullo'' ('Sun Bottle'), which was produced in the 1960s and 70s in at least 19 different colours and several sizes. In 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary of Tynell's birth, a limited run of 300 pieces was produced. Tynell's 20th anniversary

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

exhibition at the ''Strindbergin taidesalonki'' ('Strindberg Art Salon') in Helsinki was the first time glass was exhibited in a fine arts gallery in Finland, signifying a certain “coming of age” of Finnish glass art. She exhibited extensively in Finland and internationally. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the

Design Museum, Helsinki Design Museum (, ) is a museum in Helsinki devoted to the exhibition of both Finnish and foreign design, including industrial design, fashion, and graphic design. The building is situated in Kaartinkaupunki, on Korkeavuorenkatu Street, and is own ...

, the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

in Stockholm, and the

Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...

in Corning, NY, USA.

References

External links

Images of several Tynell designs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tynell, Helena Finnish designers Glass artists Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture alumni Women glass artists People from Äänekoski 1918 births 2016 deaths